The 22nd Annual Society for Animation Studies Conference

Mutually Inclusive: an investigation into the history of animation-documentary interaction in Iran(preconstituted panel: Animating Iran: History, identity and the socially-motivated animation)Abstract: Rokhsareh will be presenting a paper on the history of uses and interactions between the documentary and animation medium in Iran, focusing on some early examples of animated documentary. The paper attempts to provide a comprehensive investigation into the ‘functions’ of animated documentary in a 30 year period in Iran and the way it has undergone transformation during recent decades and eventually its current status within the emerging discourses of Iranian animation. Iranian documentary filmmakers association, IRIDFA and Iranian House of Cinema have supported this trip and research.

Biographical statement: Rokhsareh Ghaem-Maghami, is a documentary filmmaker and a researcher in film/animation aesthetics. Her MA dissertation has been published in Persian as a book, named: Animated Documentary, a New Way to Express (2008). Cyanosis (2007) is her first documentary. Complete with 10 minutes of animation sequences, the film illustrates how a poor street painter’s animated paintings shed light on his inner life, dreams, nightmares and memories. The film has been screened in more than 50 festivals all around the world and won more than 14 prestigious awards.

Abstract:This paper is a continuation of the paper which was presented last year at The Persistence of Animation conference on Eastern European animation. It is a part of Reza’s practice-based PhD research on animation’s potentialities for mediating social realities in restrictive contexts. Reza is currently researching on aspects of Iranian social realist cinema.

Biographical statement: Reza Yousefzadeh-Tabasi is a PhD candidate in University for the Creative Arts at Farnham, UK. His research interests include realism in animation, Eastern European animation and Iranian social realist cinema. This paper is a continuation of the paper which was presented last year at The Persistence of Animation conference on Eastern European animation. It is a part of Reza’s practice-based PhD research on animation’s potentialities for mediating social realities in restrictive contexts. Reza is currently researching on aspects of Iranian social realist cinema.

History in Black and White: personal story, petty history and political manifesto in Marjaneh Satrapi’s Persepolis comic books and its animated version.(preconstituted panel: Animating Iran: History, identity and the socially-motivated animation)Abstract:This paper will be discussing Marjaneh Satrapi’s Persepolis (2008) and the original comic books from the viewpoint of an ‘insider’ Iranian who also has the experience of an ‘outsider’ having lived in the so called ‘Western world’ for some years. Exploring the implications and pitfalls of the ‘means’ of narrating history in the two different mediums, it calls attention to the vulnerability of ‘petty histories’ of individuals (Hutcheon, 1989) when transferred or rather transcended into the big-screen as a feature-length film with a totally different/diverse range of audiences/expectations.

Biographical statement: Having completed her PhD in animation studies in the UK (UCA, Farnham) recently, Fatemeh Hosseini-shakib is currently lecturing animation theory/aesthetics in the Faculty of Cinema and Theatre of Tehran Art University, Iran. Her current research interests include the question of representation and realism (and its hybrid nature) in the works of Aardman studio, traditional 3D/puppet animation, medium specificity thesis regarding the interpenetrating relationship of cinema and animation, as well as ‘Iranian Animation’ and its emerging forms and institutions, and finally animation as a tangible element of modernity in the non-western worlds.

The panel is a collective attempt at presenting a range of topics within Iranian animation discourses in relation to its not-very-long history. Focusing on sociopolitical questions regarding Iranian identity, history and social changes and problems, the panel offers a diversity of approaches and aspects of what maybe called socially oriented/motivated animation in Iran.

Reading the RorschachAbstract: In this paper I shall propose that animated characters act as ink splots in a psychological test – that is that spectatorship relies on the wilful projection of consciousness onto an animated character. I would like to explore the notion that animation spectatorship relies on the human desire to anthropomorphise in order to create an emotional connection or attachment between the viewing human and the viewed object.

Biographical statement: Arriving late to the medium of animation, Caroline Parsons worked in the industry through the 1990’s as a freelance compositor, at a time when digital non-linear editing technology was rapidly expanding to become a dominant mode of production.She joined Newport School of Art, Media and Design in 1998 and became the co-ordinator of the undergraduate programme. In this role, she has worked tirelessly to establish the programme as a leading animation education provider, and these efforts were rewarded in 2006 when the programme was given Skillset accreditation. She has since then taken on the co-ordination of the MA Animation programme. Two years into a Ph.D, her research interests centre around the impact of new technology on film spectatorship. Photorealistic digitally created or enhanced bodies, for example, mean that the viewer is no longer able to differentiate between Live action and Cartoon, between the real and the imaginary.

Animation Proliferation: is animation destined to be the dominant mode of expression and production for the Film and Television Industry?

Abtract: This paper discusses Computer Generated Animation (CGA) and its persistent proliferation of the Film and Television Industry. In an increasingly post-human age overflowing with cybernetic systems, virtual interactive interfaces, and multiple digital identities, modern man is increasingly dependent on and transformed by the ubiquitous new technology. This symbiotic relationship has altered our innate narrative and voyeuristic needs thereby changing who we are as spectators and resulting in increasingly shifting cyber-audience that demands innovative cinematic approaches. It is within this discourse of emergent modes of entertainment that I analyse and evaluate the contemporary use, cultural effects, and possible trajectory of the CGA medium.Biographical statement: Tony Tarantini is a veteran of the animation industry. As an artist, he has contributed to animated TV series and features that include: Babar the Elephant, Pippi Longstockings, Rupert the Bear, Franklin the Turtle, American Tail, George Shrinks, Magi Nation, and Scholastic’s The Magic School Bus. In addition, Tony has worked extensively in curriculum design and teaches in the Animation Program (Bachelor of Applied Arts) at the Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Canada. This paper contributes to his critical inquiry of animation practice and pedagogy - areas of research to which he is deeply committed.